Jul 19, 2017
A client recently called me with a question. At his facility there was a confined space (a large vault) that they wanted to enter using alternate entry procedures (also known as reclassifying the space). Can you enter a space to test the air to determine if it’s safe to enter using alternate entry procedures? Or do you have to make an initial entry using all protections afforded by the confined space rules?
Aug 4, 2015
When you are asked the question: Is it worth having a rescue team? Common sense dictates that most employees should be able to respond appropriately to an incipient fire. Alarms and extinguishers have saved countless billions in damages and few would argue against spending money to ensure a safe and effective response in the few moments after a fire has started. Like structural fires, confined space emergencies are the result of a chain of events and if this chain can be broken early, lives can be saved.
Jul 28, 2015
On a construction site we often need to position some workers above the ground and others below. So we often find scaffolds erected near excavations. While no one would intentionally place a scaffold leg on the lip of an excavation both the excavation competent person and the scaffold competent person (yes, both scaffolds and excavations require competent persons) should be able to answer the question: how close is too close?
Jun 24, 2015
If a fall arrest anchor can’t withstand the forces generated, nothing else matters. But when a worker clips in, how can they be assured that the anchor will function if and when it’s needed? This is essentially a quality assurance question and assuring quality requires a variety of processes, none of which are complicated but each are required to make the system work. In this blog we have broken the processes down into various steps with the focus on fall arrest anchors.
June 2, 2015
For the last five or so years we have enjoyed considerable success with Version 3 of our Confined Space Entrant, Attendant, and Entry Supervisor curriculum. Nonetheless, we are excited to release Version 4.
May 20, 2015
In both Oregon and nationally we have seen changes to the rules governing entry into confined spaces. None of the changes have anything to do with how we identify, evaluate, and safely enter into confined spaces. But there are important changes to the scope of who must comply with these rules and the types of documentation they must maintain. In addition, both sets of rules changed the reclassification process.
Jun 27, 2014
Would you work at the toe of a nine-foot vertical wall of dirt with no protective system? Hopefully your answer is ‘no.’ But what if you received a letter from a soils engineer who had evaluated the composition of the dirt and declared it safe? Is an excavation safe because a soil engineer says it is?